Influence of pulsation in thermo-mechanical analysis on laser micro-welding of Ti6Al4V alloy

Abstract The pulse parameters of laser heat source have a definite effect on the weld joint structure. However, the complexity in parameter selection increases many folds with reduction in geometric dimensions of the specimen. Hence, an attempt has been made to investigate the laser microwelding of 500 µm thick Ti6Al4V alloy in butt joint configuration using pulse Nd:YAG laser. The influence of laser scanning speed and pulse energy is analyzed to produce a defect-free joint. High peak power is actually dampen by pulsation of laser cratered to use in microwelding process. The feasible range of process parameters like laser scanning speed of 3–7 mm/s and peak power of 1–5 kW produces high quality weld joint using other favorable conditions that mainly diminishes the formation of oxides in welding of titanium alloy. A sophisticated numerical model is always beneficial to capture the thermo-mechanical behavior under differential influence of process parameters. A 3D finite element based sequentially coupled thermo-mechanical model is developed by considering the pulse mode of heat flux. There is considerably variation in temperature profile using actual pulse mode of heat flux as compared to average laser power. Typical hourglass heat source for over penetrated weld is developed for the simulation of microwelding process. Large-displacement theory is considered to predict the weld-induced distortion for laser microwelding process. The computed results are well agreed with experimentally measured values and show the robustness of the present numerical model used for micro scale welding process.